LOTR: War In The North Gets OnLive Trial In Lieu Of Demo

Instead of offering a downloadable demo for action RPG Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Warner Bros. is offering an exclusive trial version of the game through streaming service OnLive. Starting today, OnLive users in the US and UK will be able to stream a full-featured 30 minute demo of the title, which is currently available for sale in the US and will launch November 9 in Europe, November 16 in Australia and November 25 in the UK. OnLive announced that the demo would be available exclusively on the streaming service, implying that a standalone downloadable demo will not be made available. While releasing through OnLive limits the audience for the demo to those with a free OnLive account and high-speed internet access, it does allow users with relatively low-end machines to try out the title without the need for a hardware upgrade. Competing streaming game service Gaikai specializes in offering demo versions of its titles, which can be embedded and played through web sites including major online retailers such as Walmart. This summer, OnLive partnered with Square Enix to offer streaming vouchers for Deus Ex: Human Revolution inside retail PC copies of the game. GameStop initially removed those vouchers from copies it sold before eventually apologizing and offering gifts to those customers affected.